One of our coalition partners is having a busy 2026. From new river access work to a 15,000 trout nursery operation to a fresh look at Coxes Creek, here is what the Casselman River Watershed Association has going on, and how you can be part of it.
If you have ever launched a kayak in Somerset County or pulled a bass out of a quiet pool on a summer afternoon, you have the Casselman River Watershed Association (CRWA) to thank, whether you knew it or not. This all-volunteer group has spent decades protecting a river that locals treat as a backyard and a livelihood at the same time.
The Casselman is worth protecting precisely because so many people use it. Fishing and paddling sit right at the top of CRWA’s priorities, and providing public access to the water traces all the way back to why the organization exists in the first place.
Six access points, one long paddle
CRWA established six river access points on the Casselman and partnered on three more launches over in the Laurel Hill Creek subwatershed. String them together and you get a genuine multi-town paddle.
You can put in at Meyersdale, behind the high school football field, and work your way down through Garrett, Rockwood, Markelton, Fort Hill, and Hardensville. From there the Casselman hands you off to the Youghiogheny, and you take out at the Ramcat access point. Amenities at each stop vary, so this summer CRWA is assessing every access point to flag maintenance needs and build a prioritized to-do list for 2026. The three Laurel Hill Creek launches (King’s Bridge, Forbes State Forest, and Laurel Hill State Park) are looked after by partner organizations.
15,000 trout, raised by neighbors
Those access points were built for boaters, but anglers got a gift out of the deal too. The Casselman is mostly a warmwater fishery, full of bass and sunfish. Tucked inside it, though, are a handful of cold water gems like Tub Mill Run, clean and cold enough to hold trout.
Tub Mill Run supports three trout nurseries that raise roughly 15,000 trout a year for stocking into area tributaries. The Jack Wagner Memorial nursery at the Wagner Sugar Camp is the big one, producing about 9,000 trout annually. The Don Anderson Nursery adds another 4,000, and CRWA’s own cage nursery raises 2,000 more.
None of that happens without people. The nurseries run on a collaboration between CRWA volunteers, the Salisbury Elklick Sportsmen, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, Forbes State Forest, and a crew of individuals who simply show up to feed the fish. Some of those trout end up stocked into local streams for events like CRWA’s annual Kids Fishing Day, which is about as good a payoff as volunteer work gets.
What the bugs are telling us about Coxes Creek
Healthy water leaves clues, and a lot of them have six legs. This year, biological surveys of fish and macroinvertebrates (stream bugs, in plain English) were carried out across the Coxes Creek subwatershed, a tributary of the Casselman. Stream bugs make excellent water quality witnesses, because they cannot pack up and leave when conditions go bad.
The Mountain Watershed Association led the project, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy ran the electrofishing surveys, and the PA Fish and Boat Commission supplied historical data on fish populations and monitoring sites. Crews completed eight electrofishing surveys and seven macroinvertebrate surveys, sampling the same locations except for one Coxes Creek site that high flows made unsafe.
The numbers: 343 fish across 23 species, and 1,384 stream bugs across 72 species. Reading between the lines tells the real story.
- Wilson Creek was the hardest hit. No fish at all, and the stream bugs rated it impaired.
- Kimberly Run showed strain too, with the lowest fish diversity and an impaired rating from the bugs.
- Rice Run had the highest fish diversity in the study, yet came up short on stream bugs and still landed an impaired status.
- Laurel Run was the bright spot, the only segment with a genuinely healthy stream bug population.
That kind of baseline is exactly what makes future restoration smart instead of guesswork. You cannot fix what you have not measured.
The 2026 event lineup
CRWA keeps the calendar full, mixing cleanups and conservation with the kind of events that are just plain fun. Here is what is on the books for 2026.
- Apr 25: Uptown Somerset Earth Day
- May 2: Rockwood Music on Main and Keg Race (Fundraiser)
- May 9: CRWA Fishing Derby in Rockwood
- May 15-16: Stony Creek Rendezvous at Greenhouse Park
- Jun 11: CRWA Sojourn on the Middle Yough (Fundraiser)
- Jul 15: CRWA Membership Picnic
- Aug 30: Bike Ride Into History, Rockwood to Markelton (Fundraiser)
- TBD: Casselman River Cleanup
- TBD: Middle Youghiogheny Fundraising Float
Middle Youghiogheny Fundraising Float
The headline event is the Middle Youghiogheny River Fundraising Float, a relaxed paddle that doubles as a fundraiser for the river. Two easy ways to join in:
- Need a boat? Call the Ohiopyle Trading Post at (724) 329-1450 to reserve one by July 1, and mention CRWA so they know you are with the group. The rental runs $59.70 and covers boat, lifejacket, paddle, and helmet. Meet at the Trading Post at 10:00 am.
- Have your own boat? Call Roger at (814) 279-4514 to claim your spot and sort out shuttling, then report to the Ramcat Launch at 10:00 am.
In the rare case of a cancellation, registered paddlers will be notified by Roger or the Ohiopyle Trading Post.
Want to get involved?
A clean environment for the next generation does not maintain itself, and CRWA is the kind of group where showing up genuinely moves the needle. There is room for you whether you want to paddle, pull trash out of the river, feed trout, or just lend your name to the cause.
Become a member
Membership is refreshingly affordable: $10 individual, $20 family, or $50 for an organization or business. Make checks payable to the Casselman River Watershed Association and mail to:
CRWA c/o Jo Balsley, Treasurer
298 Chickentown Road
Somerset, PA 15501
Come to a meeting
CRWA meets at the Italian Oven in Somerset at 11:00 am on May 20, Sep 16, Nov 18, Jan 20, and Mar 17. Cannot make a meeting? Sign up for a committee instead: Outreach and Education, Kayak Access, or River Cleanup.
Grab a shirt
CRWA shirts are available for $20, and yes, wearing one counts as advocacy.
The Casselman River Watershed Association is a nonprofit devoted to conserving the natural resources of the Casselman River Watershed. The H2O Water Network is proud to count CRWA among our coalition partners working to protect clean water across the Upper Ohio River Basin.
[EDITOR NOTE – swap before publishing: replace the “Follow CRWA on Facebook” button link (#CRWA_FACEBOOK_PLACEHOLDER) with CRWA’s actual Facebook page URL. Delete this note before publishing.]
